Beam Globals Ardmore Distillery finds its place in the sun.

Beam Global Spirits& Wine, Inc., a global leader in premium spirits and a unit of Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE: FO) celebrated the recent growth and successes achieved by the employees of Ardmore Distillery yesterday with a visit from Tom Flocco, president and CEO. Employees were bestowed with awards honoring their tenure and vision and also received recognition for recent accolades and achievements.

At the heart of the Ardmore Distillery lies the passion of dedicated employees and their commitment to upholding quality methods of traditional distilling. Flocco recognized the service of Ardmore employees by presenting awards for outstanding tenure at yesterday's ceremony held at the Aberdeenshire facility. Douglas Lewis received a service award for his 38 years at Ardmore, the longest serving tenure in the distillery's history. A second service award was presented to three generations of Grant men, Gordon Grant Jr., Gordon Grant Sr., and Charlie Grant, for their combined 100 years of service at the distillery.

Beam Global Spirits & Wine regularly honors employees who stand out as extraordinary examples in bringing the company's vision, Building Brands People Want to Talk About, to fruition. At the ceremony Flocco presented a company vision award to the Ardmore Single Malt team for their work creating Ardmore Traditional Cask, which launched in 2007.

"We commend the Ardmore Distillery for their accomplishments and each employee who has helped pour over 100 years of tradition into every bottle of Ardmore Traditional Cask," said Flocco. Our success could not have been achieved without their unshakable belief in tradition, quality and craftsmanship."

Flocco was also on hand at the Ardmore Distillery to celebrate the receipt of a Gold medal from the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition in its inaugural year in the United States. The international competition is held annually and inspires more than 800 spirits entries from around the world. Judging occurs after blind taste tests and medals are awarded based on taste alone.

The launch of Ardmore came in direct response to consumer demand and has been well-received among influencers, consumers and distributors alike. Due to market demand for Ardmore Traditional Cask, the Ardmore Distillery is now operating at record production levels with 2007 production up 38 percent from its past record production year in 2005.

Formerly produced as a "fingerprint malt" for the internationally renown Teacher's Highland Cream Blended Scotch whisky, Ardmore Traditional Cask was released in the United Kingdom and Duty Free markets in the fall of 2007 and entered the U.S. in March 2008 as the first ever widely available single malt whisky from the Ardmore distillery. For more information visit the Ardmore website at www.ardmorewhisky.com.